Myanmar

Being short on Kyat and long on time for my last two days in Myanmar, I did a lot of walking around looking for something interesting. In Bago, I succeeded. I walked into this particular temple, and the resident monk was happy to show me around and point out the Buddhas, relics, and all the … Continue reading »

In the mountain villages around Kyaukme, like so much of the rest of Myanmar, the people are the real story. Usually smiling, almost always outgoing and friendly, and most of the time more than happy to take a picture. These are they.

What Bagan is to Buddhism in Myanmar, Mount Popa is to local deities. The road to Mt. Popa, passing through dusty desert most of the way from Bagan, changes significantly in the final approach into a beautiful green zone amidst the desert of Central Myanmar. The temple itself stands atop a table mountain fronting the … Continue reading »

Bagan Sunset At the end of the day (haha!), though, sunset is the highlight of hours spent exploring Bagan. From most of the taller temples in the area, there’s a view of temple roofs fronting a big dusty sky as the sun goes down. Most special, though, is finding a random temple where you have … Continue reading »

Bagan Landscape If each individual temple is wonderful on its own, my greatest joy of Bagan was climbing a giant temple to be rewarded with a panoramic view of temples in every direction. A number of times, I felt like I should have been on a movie set rather than a real historical place. Somehow, … Continue reading »

Bagan Pictures The crazy thing about Bagan is that so many of the temples would be superstars if they were anywhere else. As it is, so many of the beautiful and finely crafted temples here are simply footnotes in the greater story of Bagan. Some just make a good place for pause from biking in … Continue reading »

Temples of Bagan So, granted, this is an overused descriptive: Bagan is incredible. Unbelievable, maybe, would fit more accurately? The immediate comparison is to Angkor Wat, in Cambodia. While the two are similar in idea (ancient temples, old cultures, Buddhist sculpture), the vibe is completely different. The joy of Angkor is riding your bike around … Continue reading »